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Small Town Pool Hall, 1960s

1960s

Around fifty or sixty years ago, in Niles, Michigan, there was a small "pool hall" (actually just two tables in repurposed garage), located near the east bank of the river, towards the end of Sycamore Street. It was nothing fancy and served no other purpose than to provide a place for people to play pool — usually 8-ball or 9-ball or 6-ball, or some variant on those games. Every once in a while somebody would play some straight pool. The proprietor (shown in these pictures sitting with a cigarette or racking balls) was John Billups, better known as Skip. Skip had an old, horizontal vending machine (that cooled by keeping the bottles immersed in cold water) for soda pop. I don't remember whether they were a nickel or a dime each.
Minolta SRT-101, 50mm F1.4 normal lens